Conference thebay::joyoflex

...at the side of Cardinal Sin is Cardinal Law of Boston.  Great team, huh?

-d

    I used to see an optometrist named Governor Hamm. I've always wondered
    what would happen when someone named "Governor" or "Judge" ran for
    public office... I mean, wouldn't "Lieutenant Governor Governor ..."
    start getting confusing? ;-)
    
    The best "real" name I recall is Praise-god Barebones, who was (I
    think) an early Colonial Puritan preacher. 
    
    -b

       There's a Pastor Roc Bottomly at one of our local churches here in
       Colorado Springs.

   								Terza

    I always wondered about Arm and Hammer brand of baking soda and the
    late Armand Hammer.
    
    --Simon
    

    re .4, Hammar/Hammer
    
    I read in a business magazine that he _was_ named after the
    baking soda.  Can't remember which one, or when, though.
    
    			-John Bishop
    

   Armand Hammer was regularly asked about his affilition with "Arm and
   Hammer". Apparently, he finally bought a significant shareholding so that
   he could at least come back with a different answer....
   
   	
   q
   

    Well, the meaning of the name is not really silly... it's the monicker
    of a former National Basketball Association player, Lloyd Free, whose
    self-proclaimed nickname was "All World."  He then (legally) changed
    his name to World B. Free.
    
    /Ed
    
    P.S. IMO, he _was_ an "all world" hoopster.

I saw an old WWII movie about the Philipines and there was a mention of a 
soldier with the last name of Commander whose rank was sergeant.  Since Sargent
is also a fairly well known surname, I suppose there is a Commander Sargent out
there somewhere, too.

Wook

    CHER started a whole silly business (show business) of naming. 
    
    Once STING was interviewed and the reporter kept calling him "Gordon",
    to which STING replied, "even my wife calls me Sting, why can't you!"
    
    I like the guy on MTV who said, "I'm on a first syllable basis with
    STING. I call him STI." 
    
    Then there's SADE, pronounced "SADE".
    
    Speaking of interviewers, David Letterman couldn't bring himself to
    call Marvelous Marvin Haggler, "Marvelous", and nearly got punched out.
    He'd had his name legally changed to Marvelous Marvin. 
    
    RE: .8
    
    I knew a guy in milatary school named Major. Sergeant Major Smith?  

    There is currently a cadet at the US Air Force Academy named Hassle.
    (He crashed the Schweizer 1-26 glider I used to fly is how I know about
    him.)  That name will work well with all grades, but particularly with
    Major Hassle and General Hassle.

    Re .0
    Cardinal Sin even calls his home the House of Sin.

    re: .8
    
    What about Major Major Major in the book Catch-22?
    
    Mat.
    *:o)
    

    re .9
    
    Cher didn't start the one name name at all.  Actually, the earliest
    personality I can think of was an obscure silent film actress named
    Valkyrien (though some called her "Mlle. Valkyrien").  And then in the
    early talkies there was Margo, a niece of Xavier Cugat, who later
    married Eddie Albert (and you all thought he was married to Eva
    Gabor!).
    
    Now if Fay Wray married the vaudeville actor Frank Fay she would either
    be Fay Wray Fay, or simply Fay Fay.
    
    Jay
    

Methinks Cher didn't even participate in the one-name fashion.  When
she was married to Sonny Bono, she went by the legal name of Cher Bono,
and I don't think she ever legally disdained a surname.  If memory
serves me correctly, she has simply been referred to by others with
only a single name.

I suppose there's a reason why Sade is pronounced "Shar-day" but I
can't figure it out unless it's just to distinguish the modern singer
from my dear marquis.  (The first person who identifies the play in the
preceding sentence wins the pleasure of having been the first person to
identify the play in the preceding sentence.)

-d

    Does anyone have a theory why famous people are often called by
    a single name?  In this note, Cher, Sting, and Sade have been
    mentioned already (to add to the list: Saddam [Hussein], Roseanne
    [Barr], Elvis [Presley] but compare: John Wayne).
    
    There seems to be an unconscious attempt to minimally represent
    a famous person's name.  The supermarket tabloids are heavy users
    of single names, probably because one name fits in a headline.
    
    Is this a Hamming (pun intented) encoding?  Is it restricted to
    the US where equality and informality are prized?

    John Wayne???   You mean Duke?
    
    Bernie

    re: .14
    	Mon cher marquis de Sade...
    
    	I have one of his books in the original French. The fascinating
    thing about modern authors is the way they compartmentalise knowlege.
    de Sade was not shy about mixing philosophy, politics, pornography,
    religion and science in the same book.

Re: .17

The Marquis de Sade is, obviously, the "in print" namesake of Sade, but
that's not a play, it's just a fun fact.  :-)

Further clue - the play is an allusion to something in the arts.

-d

    Re .15
    
    > Is this a Hamming (pun intented) encoding?
    
    Sorry, no.  Hamming codes ADD redundancy to information so that, if
    up to a specified number of bits get corrupted, error correction is
    possible (and error detection, though not correction, for usually
    one more bit of damage).  However, it might be a compression
    algorithm.  John.Z, anyone?
    
    > Is it restricted to the US where equality and informality are prized?
    
    Again, sorry, no.  In Indonesia, it is unusual for anyone to use
    family names.  They have them but don't use them.  In Iceland,
    in place of a family name, a person uses his/her father(*)'s name
    with a suffix of "son" or "dotter" for his/her last name.  In
    Japan, people generally use family names for each other and might
    not even know their friends' given names -- except that many
    Japanese(**) insist on identifying foreigners by first name and
    refuse to call us by family name.
    (* Complaints of sexism should be directed to Icelandic culture.)
    (** Including some managers in both Digital and other companies
    who refuse to listen to my complaints.)

    If not Hamming, then it must be LZW...
    
    :-)
    
    -d

Re .19

> many Japanese (Including some managers in both Digital and other companies
> who refuse to listen to my complaints) insist on identifying foreigners by
> first name and refuse to call us by family name.

Surely those in Digital Japan are Doing the Right Thing?  Digital is
supposed to be a first names company, after all.

Jon

    re .14:
    
    Is the play Mara/Sade?  Oh, you want its full name?  Okay:
    
    	The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat
    	as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton
    	Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.
    
    					andrew

Re .25:

I had to do that in Charades once!  I nearly killed the guy that gave it me.
The people trying to guess it weren't very happy either - "How many words!!!"


Jon

Re: .25

Wrong allusion, but you've got the name of the stage play right.  :-)

Further clue:  Opera.

-d

    Re .24
    
>> many Japanese (Including some managers in both Digital and other companies
>> who refuse to listen to my complaints) insist on identifying foreigners by
>> first name and refuse to call us by family name.
>Surely those in Digital Japan are Doing the Right Thing?  Digital is
>supposed to be a first names company, after all.
    
    No.  Digital Japan behaves mostly as a Japanese company, including
    calling each other by family name, except that they call foreigners
    by first name.  I find this a bit offensive and have complained.
    (Of course, my need to speak a foreign language here should be
    offensive to most of my co-workers too, but two wrongs do not
    make a right in this case.)
    -- Norman Diamond

    The singer Sade has nothing to do with the Marquis de Sade.  She's
    from Africa and her name means "grace" or "beauty" in her native
    language.  It's pronounced, according to the liner notes from her
    first album, SHAR-day.
    
    On the original topic -- when I was in college, the state of
    Montana had a Governor Judge.
    
    --bonnie

RE: .17 Mon cher Marquis de Sade
    
    Incidentally, in the bar nearest to my office you would be lucky to
    get out without serious injury if you tried to crack a Marquis de Sade
    joke in a language that the rest of the clientel could understand.

� can't figure it out unless it's just to distinguish the modern singer
� from my dear marquis.  (The first person who identifies the play in the
    
    Modern singer == Sewing machine
    My dear marquis (marquee) == Moviehouse on Valentine's Day
    
    We therefore derive the (screen)play:
    
    	"The Silence of the Lambs"
    
    Not that tough, after all,
    Mr. Siva Rats

Re: .31

At risk of repeaing myself, huh?  :-)

What, pray tell, has "The Silence of the Lambs" - a frightening story,
BTW, to do with opera (.27's clue)?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Further clue:  German light opera.  

I've always thought Taj Mahal was a weird name for a singer, but wow
can he sing the blues!  Anyone know why he chose that name?

-d

    Hmm. Either 'Der Rosenkavalier' or 'Die Fledermaus'.  My knowledge
    of opera is underwhelming (mainly due to *over*exposure at an early
    age...)
    
    >M

� What, pray tell, has "The Silence of the Lambs" - a frightening story,
� BTW, to do with opera (.27's clue)?  Inquiring minds want to know.
    
    Tsk, you didn't say it was an opera in the original conundrum, and
    reading hints is so tacky, don't you think?  Sadly for inquiring minds,
    I frankly can't explain my solution any better than in .31.  (Unless
    you don't know that "Singer" is a brand of sewing machine, or didn't
    realize that the film opened in most American theaters on Valentine's
    Day.)
    
    Anyway, I'm going to stick to my explanation.  The author's intent
    should never be allowed to sway these sophisticated literary analyses.
    
    Ray

    Re: .34
    
    i won't try to sway your analysis.  i won't buy it either, any more
    than archy would.  for the uninitiated, this is a cocky reference to
    .34's title.
    
    re: .33
    
    "Die Fledermaus" - aria by the character Adele, "Mein HErr Marquis,"
    usually rendered into English as "My Dear Marquis."
    
    Kudos.
    
    -d

    When I joined DEC 15 years ago, there was a Rick Shaw.  He's an
    Occidental, though.
    
    re: Japanese calling Westerners by their first name --
    
    I get it both ways: the Japanese call me Simon-san, and the Americans
    call me Mr. Simon.
    
    As a Chinese, I feel offended by journalists who refer to Chinese
    people in the news by their given names.  Granted, Americans are
    generally confused as to which of the names of a Chinese person is the
    "first" name and which is the "last" name.  Which is why I go by my
    Christian name for my first name.  I can live with the "Simon says"
    jokes.
    
    --Simon
    

    	At one time I went to a rather formal British school, where the
    masters traditionally only referred to boys (no girls) by their
    surname. In my class there was a Brian Johnson, a Keith Johnson and a
    Brian Keith Johnson. It caused havoc with the system.
    
    	When my grandfather traced our family tree he found an Annie Seed.
    My sister-in-law, as a result of a Leakey-Shute marriage ended up being
    called Hazel Shute.
    
    	My elder daughter, Merle has problems with the French. "Merle" is a
    common French surname, and they are quite prepared to believe that the
    English would have a given name of "Monahan". Her names appear in
    random order on letters and other documents.

Re: .36

Another Rick Shaw is the one who has a twin brother Ron and is half of
the Shaw Brothers, a New Hampshire folksinging duo of some repute. 
Among other things, they penned the Coke song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."

-d

re .15:

>    Is it restricted to the US where equality and informality are prized?

The regime in Kabul is headed by Najibullah (sp?), who uses only one name.

I believe that single names are the norm in Burma.  (Note straight line
for a either a Burmese named Norm or a Burma Shave jingle.)

Judging from the credits in "Les Enfants du Paradis," single names were
common in French acting circles in the '30s.

    The novelist Colette went by a single name.
    
    --bonnie

    U Thant, former Scretary General of the United Nations, had only
    one name--Thant.  The "U" is a title (like "Sir" or "Uncle").
    
    			-John Bishop

    MIT Professor Arvind used only one name in his publications for
    a while.  I think someone finally discovered his initials though.
    
    Then there's the French group of mathematicians that uses only
    one name for multiple people.

    Let's not forget some of the gret one-named actresses of the 19th &
    early 20th centuries:
    
    Rachel, Mistinguett, Nazimova (her first name was Alla but everyone
    called her by her last name only) and Modjeska (her first name was
    Helen I believe, but like Nazimova was known only by her surname).
    
    The real question is can anyone think of a Western MALE personality who
    was known only by one name?
    
    Jay
    

    >The real question is can anyone think of a Western MALE personality who
    >was known only by one name?
    
    	You mean, besides Sting and Bono?
    
    					andrew

... and Meatloaf ...

... and Marilyn (the male one) ...





And as for females, we missed the late great Nico.  

    Mantovani
    
    Semprini

This is REAL NAMES/SILLY PEOPLE, right?

    To start a different tangent on the original idea of serendipitous
    combinations of titles and names or first and last names:
    
    I recall someone writing about how he thought STAR::CHILD was a
    wonderful network address.  That one just happened to be.  But
    JEKYLL::HYDE is deliberate, I'm sure.  Other examples?
    
    --Simon
    

    RUSTIE::NALE is a deliberate (and delightful) combination.
    
    					andrew

I think NEARLY::GOODENOUGH was the top vote getter.

      
<<< Note 874.50 

<<<    Mantovani

	and his wife, Womantovani    

    A fellow EIS fellow has a wonderfully poetic name:
    
    	Anoop Garg
    

    From time to time, I need to know what women's and men's clothing
    looked like in one period of history or another.  When I do, I
    check out _Costume_ by John Peacock.
    
    						Ann B.

	If the ACME Bank had a Long Branch, would it be referred to as 

		the Long Branch branch of the ACME Bank bank

				:-)

    NJ has the towns of Red Bank and Long Branch, so you could then have
    the:
    
    		Long Branch Branch of the Red Bank Bank.
    
    And if Long Branch were near the ocean, there could then be the:
    
    		Long Branch Beach Branch of the Red Bank Bank.
    
    There is actually a Red Bank Bank.

    If Long Branch has a Bank Street, then it could have the:
    
        Red Bank Bank Bank Long Branch Branch bank branch.

>>    And if Long Branch were near the ocean, there could then be the:
    
    
    Actually, it's *on* the ocean.
    
    
    regards...
    ...diane

    So is the Long Branch Beach branch of the Red Bank Bank located where
    Bank Street branches toward the beach?

>  <<< Note 874.64 by SUBWAY::BONNELL "giant complex multicelled organism" >>>
>
>>>    And if Long Branch were near the ocean, there could then be the:
>
>   Actually, it's *on* the ocean.

    It's probably due to take a dive real soon.

>>    It's probably due to take a dive real soon.
    
    
    I've been to LB.  Large parts already qualify as "dives".
    (with apologies to the Chamb. of Commerce)
    
    
    regards...
    ...diane

In the credits of 'Wings of the Luftwaffe', on Discovery channel

        Legal advisor: Bonny Lawless 

There was also a Peter Grubb, but, no, he didn't do Catering :-)


Graham Chapman's movie Yellowbeard also has one or two funny names among the
credits; unfortunately, I only remember that I wanted to remember them so I 
could put them here ...

                                                        
                                                  - Rik -

There's a psychologist in Framingham who specializes in "sexual dysfunction
and disorders."  His name is Peter Wish.

    wazzat a snarf?
    
    :-)
    
    ed

    G'day,
    
     Should be Peter Out, maybe?
    
    dj

    Re .19
    
    Poor Japanise guys must be confused with us, Hungarian people. We, just
    like them (!!!), have our family name first and given name(-s) behind.
    As  far as I know noone else but these two nations follow this procedure.
    So if he does not know about this peculiarity and wants to hurt me, he
    addressses me unintentedly in a highly respected way, but if he wants
    to be very friendly to me, then he threats me in an off-hand manner...
    
    GyJ

    China, Korea, Singapore, people in Malaysia of Chinese ancestry,
    and I think Vietnam also write their family names first.  I had
    the impression that Russia does the same when writing in Cyrillic.
    
    -- Norman Diamond

        Speaking of names, what is the meaning and proper usage of the
        Japanese "-san" suffix on names?
        
        Dan

    "-san" can be attached to either a family name or given name.
    Family names are used in discussions except when all participants
    are close friends or family.  (And as mentioned in a previous note,
    another exception -- a rude one -- is when a Japanese is talking
    to or about a foreigner and uses the foreigner's given name when
    the family name should be used.)
    
    "-san" is respectful though not the most respectful, and it is
    standard except when there is a large difference in social or
    business rank between the speaker and the named person.  When
    speaking of a very highly ranked or respected person, "-sama"
    is used.  Depending on the situation, it is also common to use
    a person's title instead of their name, or to attach "-sensei"
    (teacher) as a suffix for teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.
    
    When speaking about one's co-worker to someone outside the firm,
    "-san" is omitted.  I believe it is the same when speaking about
    one's family member to someone outside the family.
    
    "-chan" (dear) can be used with children's names or nicknames,
    and "-kun" can be used with a man's name or nickname by his close
    friends.  In other companies I sometimes heard a male co-worker's
    name or nickname used with "-chan".  And in this company, several
    years ago I had co-workers who occasionally had some real jobs
    for me to do and they appreciated the work I did, whereupon they
    gave me the hilarious nickname "Dai-chan".  (I don't think my
    present co-workers would believe it.)
    
    Incidentally, some people perpetuate the myth that "-san" attached
    to the name of a mountain is a personification.  It is not.  The
    Japanese word for mountain is "-yama" but, like any other word for
    which a Chinese character has been imported, some antique Chinese
    pronunciations are used for the same character as well.  Today in
    Cantonese the word for mountain is "shan" so I think it is sufficiently
    clear than "-san" is indeed just a (slightly corrupted) Chinese reading
    of the Chinese character for mountain.  Besides, this one is sometimes
    pronounced "-zan" or "-sen" or "-zen" which never happens to the
    human title "-san".
    
    I would suggest that any further discussion belongs in the conference
    JIT081::NIHONGO (which, sorry, I do not read).
    
    -- Norman Diamond

        Thanks for the explanation and pointer!
        
        Dan